CNN’s Daniel Dale Calls Out Trump for Fleeing Presser: ‘When Presented With The Facts, He Just Ran Away’

Sarah RumpfAug 8th, 2020, 5:51 pm
 

President Donald Trump abruptly darted from a press conference that he himself had promoted after getting a tough fact check from CBS’ Paula Reid, drawing a swarm of criticism from the political press corps, including CNN’s Daniel Dale, who clarified what exactly the president had been misrepresenting, and called him out for fleeing: “When presented with the facts, he just ran away.”

Trump had tweeted an announcement about the presser from his Twitter account, and the official White House account promoted a livestream of it as well.

However, Trump answered only a few questions, swiftly ending the presser after mere minutes and walking away from the podium after Reid asked him about why he keeps saying that he had signed Veterans’ Choice, a bill that was actually signed into law in 2014, by former President Barack Obama.

“Veterans’ Choice — it was passed in 2014,” said Reid.

“Excuse me, go ahead, please,” said Trump, attempting to cut her off. “But it was a false statement, sir,” Reid replied.

“OK, thank you very much, everybody, thank you very much,” said Trump as he waved and walked off as reporters continued to shout questions.

CNN’s Erica Hill played that clip for Dale, noting that Trump had “[cut] off questions there when he was challenged for a statement that he has made multiple times — saying that he signed Veterans’ Choice — Daniel Dale, you brought this up in the very beginning. We know that’s not true, and yet this is a statement that the president continues to push. He did not. He’s not responsible for that.”

“He is not,” Dale agreed, explaining that what Trump had actually signed was a 2018 law called the VA Mission Act that modified and expanded the Veterans’ Choice program.

“But he describes himself as the one who got Choice after others had tried and failed for 50 years,” Dale continued.

“That was kind of a historic fact check moment because I don’t think anyone had ever challenged Trump on this lie he keeps telling over and over, and it was revealing that, you know, when presented with the facts, he just ran away. He ended the briefing.”

He detailed several other false claims that Trump managed to make in the very short presser, including claiming that everyone, including Democrats, wanted a payroll tax cut in the new stimulus bill. “That’s not true. They oppose that. That’s ‘up is down’ lying.” Dale also shared his fact check of the presidential presser on his Twitter account.

Watch the segment above, via CNN.

Tags:
Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.